Objective: This study investigates the impact of dental fluorosis on the oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) among 11-to 14-year-old school children in endemic fluoride areas of Haryana (India). Materials and methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 2,200 school children in endemic fluoride areas of Haryana. Using cluster random sampling, three districts out of 14 endemic fluoride districts were selected, and children 11-14 years of age were examined. A child perception questionnaire (CPQ 11-14) (Hindi version) evaluated the impact of dental fluorosis on OHRQoL. The Thylstrup-Fejerskov index (TFI) was used for assessing dental fluorosis. The data were analysed using SPSS version 18, and non-parametric tests were used to assess the significance. The regression analysis was used to determine the effect of change in CPQ scores with dental fluorosis at P < 0.05. Results: The study participants included 45.3% males and 54.7% females among which mild to moderate level of dental fluorosis was identified with mean mean TFI Scores being 3.19 AE 1.55. Children without dental fluorosis had 1.17 times more odd of percieving their oral health as excellent/good when compared to children with dental fluorosis (P < 0.05). Study subjects with dental fluorosis did not have higher mean CPQ 11-14 domain and total scores when compared with subjects without dental fluorosis. Conclusion: It can be concluded that mild dental fluorosis did not affect the OHRQoL of the children in the endemic fluoride areas of Haryana in India.

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Dental caries is an irreversible microbial disease of the tooth which fulfills the idea of an infectious disease and hence the possibilities of vaccination have been considered. Many pertinent components of vaccine development, such as protein, recombinant or synthetic peptide, or DNA-based active vaccines, as well as mucosal adjuvants, such as heat-labile enterotoxins from Vibrio cholera or Escherichia coli, and chitosan, have proven effective through numerous in vitro and in vivo researches, as well as some human clinical trials. The use of adjuvants and the routes of antigen administration have both been studied to improve the host response. Vaccines such as pGJA-P/VAX, LT derivative/Pi39-512, KFD2-rPAc and SBR/GBR-CMV-nirB are few of the potential vaccines that have been produced and tested in animals in recent years. However, there is still a scarcity of information about the role of caries vaccine in human population. Multicentre collaborative studies and clinical trials of immunologically superior dental caries vaccine formulations are the need of the hour for preventing dental caries.